Imagine yourself killing time by scrolling through your favorite website. Maybe you're looking at the front page of Reddit or catching up with your friends on Facebook. Perhaps you are reading an article on Odyssey. You find yourself ready to move on to the next page, and you click a link. It doesn't load. You click over and over again, progressively pounding the mouse with more force each time.
"Maybe the Internet is out," you think to yourself. You get up and check your router. Everything is hooked up properly. All the lights that should be blinking are on. You decide to give your Internet service provider a call to see if there is some sort of problem on their end. They tell you that the site you were trying to reach has been blocked by your service provider, but you do have the power to access the site again... for a fee.
This is just one example of what it could be like without net neutrality.
Net neutrality prevents Internet service providers from favoring some websites over others for whatever reason. This allows you the freedom to browse the Internet without outside sources slowing you down and influencing what you see and do online. Ajit Pai, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, outlined his plan to do away with net neutrality.
Wednesday, July 12, 2017 marks the beginning for the battle towards net neutrality. Thousands of sites, including widely known websites, such as Amazon, Etsy, imgur, Newgrownds, Spotify, and Weebly, have voiced their support for this movement. The movement will begin by spreading awareness. Websites that choose to fight for net neutrality will be displaying prominent alerts on their homepage that would simulate a world without net neutrality.
So who could possibly benefit from censoring the Internet? Well, let's use paid prioritization as an example. Let's say that a widely known streaming service, such as Netflix, can legally pay your Internet service provider extra money to make their site load faster than their competitors. Many of us have become spoiled by fast internet. If it takes too long to load, we lose interest and move on. If two companies provide the same service, but one loads faster than the other, you're more likely to go for the faster service, right? If you think that would be the end of it, you're wrong. Someone has to make up for the money used for the paid prioritization, and that would be you.
As for the little guys who could not possibly afford paid prioritization? Well, they're done for. Without net neutrality, companies with the money to play the game will be the only ones who can stay in the game. Forget about new businesses trying to launch into the field. Without net neutrality, Internet service providers can choose to discriminate against smaller companies that have no ties to big players. The internet would be dominated by big corporations with no room for competition.
Keep in mind that this is simply one example of how the Internet could be abused without neutrality. This does not include the possibility of slowing down sites whose opinions do not align with Internet service providers, how much power Internet service providers have over what you can see and do on the Internet, and increases in fees to keep things neutral.
Ultimately, without net neutrality the losers would be us, the consumer. We would foot the bill for large companies who have to pay to reach us. We would be paying higher costs for biased, lower quality services. We would be taking away from the American dream, the idea that everyone has the equal opportunity to pursue success through hard work and determination.
You do not have to own a website to join this battle. Go to Battle for the Net to learn more and see how you can spread awareness.
